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Talvis Maren
Talvis Maren is a pirate and captain of the salvaged alien dreadnought SS Hades' Gate. VeilVerse Backstory Childhood Talvis Maren hails from somewhere in the frontier, though no one know exactly where. Born Felchim Tensis, he was —along with his twin sister Torren— the youngest of four children of Haroom Tensis. Haroom was a dread pirate and owner of a small series of agricultural factories —for such a combination was not terribly uncommon among the well-connected members of the frontier— mainly operating mainly in the CIR-claimed area of the Moretan cluster. From early on, Talvis and Torren were judged to be much too soft and slow to inherit either family business; thus, only their older brothers Vokol and Agentius were primed to succeed their father. Vokol and Agentius were quite close, forming an almost yin and yang pair; Torren and Felchim likewise formed their own partnership, albeit one born out of mutual protection than any feeling of kinship. When Felchim was eight, one of Haroom’s most trusted partners attempted to assassinate him while he slept. Though the attempt was foiled, it turned the once-confident Haroom into a paranoid conspiracist; he soon permanently relocated the family onto his personal cruiser, the Brimstone Hail, in order to safeguard them against assassination or ransom attempts— though given Vokol’s rapid ascension to adulthood and many a frontier family’s tendency toward more violent means of succession, it’s equally possible he was following the old adage of keeping one’s enemies closer. Regardless of his reasoning, Felchim spent a full decade of his life onboard on ship after another, with only a few rare moments spent planetside. As with many who spend extremely long periods in orbit, his body quickly began to atrophy— never terribly tall, he soon gained somewhat of a hunch due to the low gravity, while his already-weak muscles and eyesight deteriorated further. Despite this, Felchim spent quite a bit of time among the ship’s engineering department— usually a position reserved for the physically able. At the time, he would always tell people he merely liked being alone, and enjoyed the solitude he found within the dark crawlspaces and sparsely-populated rooms of machinery— though history would later indicate a much more sinister reasoning behind this time spent amongst the ship’s inner workings. Loss of Family Haroom’s plan to protect his family backfired massively sometime around the year 26UNKNOWN when rivals ambushed his small flotilla near the western edge of the cluster. Boarded, sabotaged, and coming under heavy assault, Haroom ordered his family to the shuttlebay while he went down with the ship, hoping that his heir apparent would find and kill the one who betrayed them. Vokol swore to carry out his father’s last wish and reclaim what was his, lead his siblings and their bodyguards through a platoon of mercenaries and to his father’s personal transport— and was promptly hot in the back by little Torren. As her and Felchim’s bodyguards executed the rest of those loyal to the heir, including Agentius, Torren explained their betrayal— an agent of one of Haroom’s rivals, part of the ship’s maintenance crew, had picked up on the conflict between the siblings, and approached Felchim, offering the twins a healthy part of the bounty on Haroom’s head should they assist in an assassination attempt they were planning. They agreed, with Felchim rigging the ship’s generator to shut down when his father attempted to enter combat while Torren hacked the computers and transmitted their coordinates to the ambush fleet. With her impassioned rant finished, Torren proceeded to shoot Vokol through the head and moved to board the shuttle— only to realize that Felchim had taken off by himself and left her and both their bodyguards to die. The ship scuttled itself mere moments later. Felchim had successfully accomplished his first manipulation, lying to Torren about some imaginary traitor on his father’s ship to have her join his plan and pumping up her ego to ensure she wasted time explaining everything to Vokol instead of making sure he wasn’t stabbing her in the back— which, obviously, he did. Rechristening himself Talvis Maren, after a famous revolutionary in the Second Colonial Wars, he collected a significant portion of the bounty on his father’s head, which he used to buy an old destroyer and a crew and begin his own career of piracy. Post-Ambush Several years later, Maren had been able to make quite a name for himself as an raider and mercenary throughout the frontier. Notably, it was said he knew neither loyalty nor honor, yet rarely held a grudge and was an effective officer. Additionally, Maren was able to reestablish much of his father’s famed network of contacts, and soon entered the information-brokering business as well. It was through this network that he uncovered a communique to the effect that Torren, his sister, had actually escaped his father’s ship, and had accepted amnesty within the CIR for helping combat several regional pirate cartels. Predicting (correctly) that she was trying to hunt him down in the name of vengeance, Maren began to proactively hunt her down himself, resulting in an intense cat-and-mouse chase for several months. The chase culminated in a short but intense battle near the CIR’s primary naval station in the frontier, wherein a traitor was able to disable Maren’s warp drive, allowing him to be overtaken by a significantly-larger CIR naval squadron commanded by Torren. Talvis was about to be executed by Torren personally when her CIR handler stepped in and ordered her to stand down, cryptically stating that the Republic had “plans” for the traitorous pirate. It didn’t take long for these plans to come to light: Maren was conscripted to serve in a new Imperial-sponsored militia-support program, which the Republic used to curry favor with unaligned frontier worlds by ensuring their defence forces were in top condition. Maren was to be captain of a ship in his sister’s squadron— with a significant detachment of CIR intel operatives to ensure both stayed in line. With no immediate opportunities for freedom, Maren did what he did best— sit back and wait for an opportunity. Said opportunity presented itself in short order: during a raid on a small pirate base belonging to the Utrellian Razorbacks cartel, their small flotilla was ambushed by a much larger raiding squadron returning from a recent conquest— a squadron headed by a Takeda-class battleship. In the resulting chaos, Maren’s ship took a direct hit to its communications array, giving him the opportunity he needed: he intentionally put his ship into a semi-risky position to take fire, such that the shaking from the impacts let him catch his handlers off-guard and off-balance; he quickly ended them. Tricking the CIR-loyal members of the crew into thinking Torren’s ship had been boarded and taken, Maren ordered all batteries to fire on Torren’s ship— finishing her once and for all. With his primary goal finally accomplished, Maren surrendered his ship and promptly switched sides, allowing the remaining pirates to finish off the Imperial squadron. He was paid yet another bounty for his efforts, and continued to work with the Razorbacks on several occasions— with being the operative word. His time under his sister instilled within Maren a strong resentment towards any sort of authority, and began to jealously guard his independence; despite ostensibly being a member of the Razorbacks, Maren would always insist on using the term affiliated, and would always maintain that he could leave at any time. When asked, he insisted his reasons for staying with them were quite simple: they paid him, reliably; if a better offer came along, he would take it without hesitation. Operation: Six Shooter For a time, nobody truly believed Maren; he had been with the Razorbacks for so long, he surely must’ve formed at least some sort of loyalty. Nevertheless, when the newly-formed ICPF began looking to acquire frontier locals for part of Operation: Six Shooter —an attempt to clean up the pirates and anarchists terrorizing the frontier in the Confederation’s sphere of influence, Maren was one of the first people they contacted. Working off a hint, the PCG approached Talvis and offered him a lucrative position of deputized privateer —the official terminology for mercenaries hired to support the operation— he took it without a second thought. It was here, among the ICPF’s strategists and officers, that he showed his aptitude for tactics and planning; his was the mind behind Operation: Bluestreak, one of the most successful campaigns of the operation. As the Six Shooter came to a close, the PCG decided that his services were no longer necessary, and summarily discharged him with their final payments, as agreed. However, they were unable to secure amnesty once he had been released, and Federation forces soon attempted to arrest him to stand trial for his previous crimes. It was then they learned one of the first rules of space piracy: never backstab the backstabber. Having predicted a possibility of betrayal by his current employers, Talvis had extended his system of informants to include the PCG months earlier— a system which now paid off by warning him hours in advance that the order had been sent. By the time the military police arrived, he was gone. Talvis has spent the rest of his time up to this point as a pirate, mercenary, and bounty hunter. He’s worked with or for pretty much everyone at some point or another— and has probably betrayed them too. Physiology Talvis is 5’11”, agd 51, Human, believed to be descended from CIR stock— though there’s been insufficient evidence to confirm this. He has about slightly below-average strength, and has little experience with either ranged or melee weaponry. His reflexes are somewhat slow, and it often takes him several seconds to respond to unexpected situations. In addition, he also has terrible vision, though his deployable visor or a simple pair of glasses can often more than compensate. That said, Talvis is surprisingly nimble and quick with his hands— a product of his time within his father’s ship’s engineering crew. Current Status Some say Talvis is simply misunderstood or hardened by the loss of his family, while others say that he’s a psychopath with some sort of god complex; the truth is likely somewhere in between. He is extremely pragmatic and unemotional, to the point of sociopathy. This coldness seems to almost radiate from him, and makes him less than adept at diplomacy. As one may have noticed in his history, he has absolutely no qualms about betraying anyone he comes across for more power or wealth— and his reputation for it almost always precedes him. Despite this, Talvis has extensively studied psychology and related sciences, and has trained himself to be extremely perceptive. As a result, Talvis has what seems to others to be an almost extrasensory ability to read other’s emotions and thoughts— abilities he often uses to manipulate people into acting as his pawns despite his lack of charisma. Something else you may have noticed: he is much more of a schemer and tactician than he is a fighter. Backstabbing him is highly unadvisable— it’s almost guaranteed he’ll see it coming. He is a firm believer in the frontier credo “treachery will get you everywhere”, and always avoids getting his hands dirty unless it’s absolutely necessary— which is rare, due to his extensive connections throughout the galaxy, especially within the frontier. Before acquiring the Hades’ Gate, he preferred to command from the back lines— often a carrier. Equipment Talvis always wears a protective suit of light armor— not enough to stop a sniper, but still sufficient to stop a stab by a knife or small pistol (essentially, just enough to prevent an assassin). In addition, he rarely goes anywhere without his adaptive visor, which compensates for his nearsightedness and acts as a HUD. As far as weaponry is concerned, he carries a Holug-18 semiauto pistol for emergencies, as well as a small utility knife. When on his ship, it is not uncommon to see him with some minor repair tools as well, in order to put his engineering know-how to good use. Notes * Talvis Maren is an original character originally created for the Pirates, Privateers, and Mercenaries RP back on the forum; as this was long before the Rebirth, this RP took place in an alternate version of the original PCGverse ** The main difference between the two universes was that the Wave-Motion cannon was less powerful, and the galactic/political map was significantly different. This universe also introduced the first iteration of Standard Trade Units into the PCGverse. Links * Original Pirate RP topic Category:RP Characters Category:Pirates